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Which color should we paint our bathroom?

If you come over to our apartment, you might notice me wince if you ask where the bathroom is. Our bathroom has always been an eyesore. The tile is chipping, nothing matches, and the walls are a drab white. We want to fix it up, but since we'd like to move to Brooklyn next spring, we don't want to do anything too major. So, we've decided to give it a quick makeover with...a coat of paint!

Valspar Paint was sweet enough to offer the paint (thank you, Valspar!), so now the question is: Which color should we choose? Valspar offers a "Love Your Color" Guarantee, where if you don't love the first paint color you choose, they'll let you pick out a second color for free, so we feel emboldened when it comes to picking richer colors. I'm usually pretty bad at picking out paint (it's so hard to envision on the walls!), but here are our three favorites, inspired by the rooms above...Do you like any of these? Or would you pick a totally different color? Please weigh in below...we'll share the before-and-after photos next week. (You'll die when you see the before:)

i love all of these! however, if your bathroom is really small or doesn't have a lot of natural light, i would go with the blue mist. otherwise, i like the navy which is classic but the alpine is unexpected.

I wouldn't choose a dark color unless your bathroom has a lot of light. The people in my apartment before me made some really poor paint choices and we didn't have the ability to correct them all. The dark blue bathroom feels really dark. I would have chosen a much brighter color.

Blue Mist. I'm gonna guess you have a pretty tiny bathroom since you're living in a NYC apartment ;) Blue Mist will keep the room feeling lighter and larger. Of course, you could always go for a look like th the second picture, adding a chair rail and painting the bottom white and the top Ballard Blue. Decisions, decisions. Good luck!

I'm the worst at picking out paint. In fact, every single wall in our house is white and i just added a fresh coat of white in the baby's room (I know I'm so boring) but I stick to white mainly because we have a small cottage and I'm worried the darker colors will make it look smaller. So I would suggest Blue Mist for you :)

Alpine Top! I love this shade. It adds warmth and its easy to add so many different colors of accents to the mix... Im sure you will get a lot of compliments on your bathroom with this color... and no more wince from you...lol

The "Ballard Blue" is very close to the color we used in our bathroom - it is lovely! Our bathroom has white fixtures and a skylight, so the darker color isn't too overwhelming even though it's on all of the walls.

Definitely Alpine Top in some of the walls. A few of them might remain white, though. That's the way a friend of mine painted her bathroom and by experience I can say it's lovely and refreshing. BTW, the bathroom in question is at The Netherlands... so europeanly chic.

Ahh depends on room soze and how much light you get in there. The darker the colour the smaller and more enclosed a space it will seem. I'm definitely a fan of light and airy bathrooms, pale, milky colours. For some reason it reminds me of being by the sea on holiday!

I think whatever you choose will work great for your family. If it is a smaller bathroom I would go with blue mist to make the area feel light and arie if you are working with a larger bath I would go with the alpine top, more of a warm feel.

I love a white bathroom, so Blue Mist would be my choice. It will keep it looking bright and airy feeling. Use a bold color/patterned shower curtain as an accent piece, Anthropologie always has great ones.

I really like the green. A rich jewel tone for a small room seems like a nice idea to me - like making it a tiny jewel box.

Painting it a typical light blue colour seems almost as boring as white to me, but when again, I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with that. And the dark blue seems maybe a bit too dark and constricting.

Which of the three colours do you feel most comfortable wearing on a daily basis?

As an interior designer that's my advice to you. It's your space, you're the one living in it. You need to feel comfortable in there. Bathrooms are a vulnerable room in the home, it's where you see yourself for the first time every day and for the last time every day. You want to look your best!

I have a small vintage-y bathroom and I painted the walls Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. I see Valspar has one that looks identical--Sea Salt Blue CI191. I absolutely love the color--it has a bit of grey in it. It's very clean & calming with the white-painted molding, and it reflects the light quite nicely. I am a bath person, so I really get to enjoy the color as I soak & relax!

i saw the greatest idea the other day: my friend's new bathroom is an odd shape and white with white cabinets and white tile....but instead of totally overhauling it, she did a thick red stripe around the middle. it's still crisp, but with an edge!

Blue mist if the bathroom is small. If it isn't Ballard Blue. Can't wait to see the before and after photos! Also, check out my pinterest DIY board for a great pin about painting tile. Maybe this would help your bathroom as well? We rent our place so we'd have to ask before doing something like that, but it would be a great alternative to replacing the tile.

My experience with a green bathroom is that it makes you look green when you are trying to put on makeup, or just get ready for the day. It isn't so great for self-esteem :) Maybe just one wall of green and the rest ballard blue?

Oh I love to give advice on paint! From these choices I would go with the Ballard Blue, but my vote would actually be to go a little more gray with it. I find that in a small space the color actually refects off itself on opposite walls and gets too intense so going a little more subtle can still feel bold.

I don'know Valspar as well as Benjamin Moore but from quickly looking at their site Prussian Cadet would be a nice choice.

I like blue mist. It's clean, soothing and refreshing. I've always felt that it is hard to unwind after a long day in a dark painted room especially in a bedroom or bathroom. It would keep me on edge or give me a headache! So my vote goes to blue mist. And then you can really have fun with the decor! Can't wait to see your after photos!!

What fabulous colours they have! I have, at this moment, a huge weakness for dusty watery greenish-blues, so I would be very tempted by colours like High Noon, Aquatic Edge, Seasalt Blue. Oh, I wish we could get this paint in the Netherlands!

if you don't have a window in your bathroom (and i assume you don't because you live in manhattan) i'd go with a light color. don't get me wrong - i love a good dark, and our master bath is dark, but we also have a lot of sunlight coming through to offset it.

I like Ballard Blue - but my biggest suggestion is to pick a couple shades you are thinking of, get samples, and try them in the actual wall space. Yep, just paint like 3 or 4 swatches and look at the colors in different lights of the day. And you must actually paint the samples on the wall for the full effect and not just hold up the color wheel samples. Then you will be less likely to pick a color that doesn't work! Try it!

I love all the colors, but I think I would go with Blue Mist. It's fresh and relaxing, and would look really crisp with white. The other two might make your bathroom feel like a cavern (not what you want your bathroom to become).

I love a dark saturated colour in the bathroom. I painted my bathroom a dark red/pink called Merlot. I love it! So much better than white!

If you can't live with dark colours in the rest of your apartment (like me), then the bathroom is a great place to experiment with it... it's a small space & you're generally not in there for a long time, so the dark colour is easier to handle. Plus it adds to the moody atmosphere of a candle-lit bath.

I like the Blue Mist. Maybe it's a little predictable, but I like the clean & crisp feel. Although my bathroom right now is a slightly lighter shade of the Alpine Top, and it's really nice! It's sort of like a Tiffany's blue but a littler greener, you know what I mean? Either I think would work :)

i like the alpine top, BUT i think your bathroom, with the blue accents, is kinda screaming for a nice muted yellow, kind of like Ballet Bar (http://www.valsparpaint.com/en/explore-colors/color-selector/index.html?ref=colorselector_homepage_menu2#1).

After I painted my bathroom a pale seafoam green, my mother commented that green is not flattering when it reflects on your skim, so she doesn't think its a good bathroom color. Oh, mothers. Its never bothered me, but just something to think about! I like the Blue Mist.

i love the blues, and i also love light colors in the bathroom. when you go in there in the morning it helps you wake up since it's nice and bright (i think anyways). honestly though, if you have second choice backup from valspar i'd go with the darker blue because if you don't like it you can always switch to the lighter blue which is a safer bet.

also, i would stay away from the green JUST BECAUSE you are fair and green's complimentary color is red. so if you want to avoid looking extra pink in the winter stay away from green which will bring it out in your skin.

A lot of people say a dark color in a bathroom will make it feel SMALL. However, recently I fell in LOVE with a bathroom that is painted a color similar to Ballard Blue (maybe even darker). It makes the white porcelain look bright and sparkly and the room feel warm and cozy (in a "i could live in here" not a "claustrophobic" way). They hug a LARGE mirror which helped open the room and small green plants. ::sigh:: just thinking of it makes me wish I wasn't a renter. Ballard blue is my pick!!

I'd go with pale blue or dark blue if you can have lots of white accents - white door, trim, floor, tile, etc. It will be very crisp if you can have some white in there. Stay away from green in bathrooms, it gives you skin a very unhealthy "glow".

Valspar paint is a pretty low-end paint and really hit or miss in terms of quality. I painted my bathroom Valspar Ocean Dream (a medium tone blue with a touch of gray) and love the color. BUT the paint chips easily (on a brand new primed wall) and even though it's satin it's not easily washed.

If someone falls in love with a Valspar color, they are better off having it color matched by a higher-end brand. But, if you can get the paint for free, why not use it.

Somewhere I remember reading that it´s feminine "trick" to paint your bathroom walls in a peachy-fleshy hue that looks good against you pale skin. So when you look yourself in the mirror without makeup and fresh out of the shower, the light would reflect on a becoming hue. "Cold" colors can give you a ghoulish glare. It´s silly but it´s so nice to look good while doing your makeup or simply brushing your teeth!

Test colors against your skin! And also beware of too bright withish ligthing.

The alpine top if you have black and white tile. It will look chic with a brand new white shower curtain (get a fabric cover to go over the plastic liner) and some black and white prints for the walls. You could do the same with Ballard Blue but the Alpine would be a bit more funky. You could try to find a funky bath mat.

As a professional lighting designer, I'd recommend going for a compeltely different palette- something warmer - in the amber/peach family. The light reflecting off of warm colors will look best on your skin tone while you're doing makeup and getting ready in the mirror. Blues and greens might make you feel a little "sick" or "cold" looking. Just something to think about - I don't want to throw off your whole scheme!

Benjamin Moore has a Spa line - for super matte bathroom paints, we painted ours white, but it looks so sophisticated in matte finish. I think semi-gloss makes any color look cheesy. If you want drama - go all the way for high gloss. And I don't know anything about this brand, but I say go as expensive as you can for such a small space - even the most premium paints will be around $60 for a small bathroom.

I like the color of Alpine Top.. but I would like it a softer shade.. more like the blue mist.. how about alpine top mist?.. I also looked at your board and the picture with all the bird pics has a dove grey wall.. and I kind of like that soft grey too.. looks soothing. which you do want in a bathroom:)

I'd say go for Blue Mist, or something in between that and Ballard Blue. I've seen some great bathrooms with a darker colour, but personally prefer a light space. Unless your bathroom is very spacious, it might feel oppressive to paint it either of the other colours ;)

i would usually say light blue but the green is great because its the type of green that gives you the motivation to take on your day. and we all know when we get up if anything we go to strait to the bathroom, its a fresh motivating feeling.

I painted my bathroom Benjamin Moore light blue (yes, that is truly the boring name) with the finish made specifically for bathrooms, and it is my all time favorite wall color. So much so that I plan to paint another room the exact same color. So, I vote for finding a Valspar color match for the BM color. Just not the green! Remember, the wall color in the bathroom should flatter your skin if you put your make up on in there. And there isn't lighting in the world that will work with green that won't make you look sea sick! Can't wait for photos!

How funny! I did a similar post yesterday as I am painting my bathroom too! I love the 2nd photo of the darker blue. My office is that color and I get huge compliments on it! If you have enough light, I love the contrast of a dark color with white tile and accents. Dark is bold! :) can't wait to see the before/after!

We have a very similar bathroom to the dark blue image from your inspiration board. And while it does look pretty, drives me nuts because it always looks dirty! Not sure what happens in our bathroom, but between my son and my son it is always splattered with something. So. I guess I would recommend a less saturated color for a bathroom. And how exciting about the upcoming move! Hope you get more space.

Go Bold! I totally used Pinterest for my bathroom inspiration. I ended up doing a bright turquoise because it reminded me of surfing. I say - the bathroom is one cool place you can do an outrageous color - it makes such a difference and is fun for the guests.

I love Ballard Blue, but since bathrooms tend to get less natural light, bold colors can make the room seem much darker, smaller, and gloomier. I think the mist color will make the bathroom seem clean, bright, bigger, and very proper.

blue mist. Both my bathrooms are some variation of it, and I have never sickened of it (after ten years). Tried the green because it is pretty, but doesn't translate well onto small spaces. My two cents.

I see a lot of people suggest you go for the Blue Mist and you will love it during this summer and maybe fall, but from winter on you will find it boring, it just fades away with time (psychologically). But if you are moving in spring, that is a problem for the new owners. I would personally choose Ballard Blue with a sunny yellow like Valsparpaint Pumpkin Butter or Alpine Top with crisp white. Or based on your moodboard, you can go with Off Broadway and light beige/white. Good luck !

My bathroom (it's separate from the toilet and just has a bath and sink) is the lighter colour on the left. It is so bright and fresh, I really love it. Our spare room ( which is a tiny box) is close to the Ballard Blue and, surprisingly, it doesn't make the room feel small.

You'll never regret the light one, but the dark is definitely a bolder choice and if you're moving in a year, you should take the risk now so you know for later

I seem to be in the minority here, but I like the Alpine Top. Green has the amazing power to feel neutral without being boring and with that shade you can get some interesting contrast in with pops of white or a complementary shade. It's also sophisticated at the same time which is perfect for when it doubles as a powder room for guests.

I like the Blue Mist, but that's the hard part about viewing colors on monitors - it might get a little too "baby room blue". I think it's also not as much of a change from your white - but if you aren't looking for anything too much different the Blue Mist would be nice!

I'd go with the light blue shade. But the nice thing about a bathroom is it's small so a bold color is easier to live with -- not as overpowering as it would be in a larger room. You really need to trust your gut! ☺

I like ballard blue. I know it's not often suggested, but I'm a fan of dark, rich colors in small spaces. A friend of mine once painted her bathroom walls black! Sounds strange and depressing, but with so many white accents in the room it actually looked gorgeous!